Salt Works, Clarke County, Alabama

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Introduction

Salt is more precious than gold in a society without practical refrigeration. During the Civil War era, salt was necessary for curing meat to feed the residents. and more significantly, the armies of the Confederacy.

There were few natural salt deposits in the South. Prior to the U.S. Civil War, salt was an import item. One such natural deposit was the salt available in Clarke County, Alabama just 6.7 miles NW of Jackson, Alabama. It was so important that two forts were built to protect the operations during the Civil War. This salt was processed here from natural salt springs and shipped throughout the South.

Salt was so important to the state of Alabama that the State General Assembly passed Act 38 on 9 Dec 1862 creating the Alabama Salt Commission. From that point forward the regulatory agency was placed in charge of the purchase, manufacture, and transport of salt. The act also provided that an equal amount, not to exceed 25 pounds be sold to each household. Furthermore, it was the responsibility of each county commission to distribute salt within each county with the distribution generally taking place at the county seat.

The largest salt manufacturing facility in Clarke County consisted of three primary locations on the Tombigbee River. From 1862 through 1865 the Clarke County Works employed a force of some 5,000 men many of whom were slaves impressed by the state to produce the salt. Even with these large numbers employed in the production of the vital mineral, the shortage plagued the state so much that the Salt Commission forbade the transport of salt outside the state.

Three localities in Clarke Co., in the southwestern part of the state became differentiated as the Lower Works (North of Oven Bluff), The Central Works (near Salt Mountain) and the Upper Salt Works (range one of township seven). The state reservations were at the Upper and Lower Works. There were many smaller works throughout Clarke, Washington and Mobile counties, where salt was made for domestic use and for sale. The Salt-making months were limited to April to December because of the flooding of the salt land by the Tombigbee River.

Its past is rooted deeply in the production of a commodity so important to the survival of a people and a cause that a state agency was created to guarantee its production and guard its usage. Salt’s importance, while mostly overlooked in the 21st century, was at the center of Civil War strategy and a part of Alabama’s rich history.

Producing Salt

This could be done as a large-scale operation as the government did it or in the scale of a single family collecting enough salt for the year before returning home.

The construction of a large-scale facility was very much like others found in Alabama, It was comprised of long open sheds with a brick firebox running down the center of the shed. Enormous iron vessels were positioned along this firebox and were heated by a fire built at one end of the building. The hot air from the fire traveled through the firebox and was used to boil a brine substance contained in the pots rendering it into salt.

The brine was retrieved from pits dug into the local salt marsh. These pits were lined with heavy timbers which allowed the salt brine to flow through the cracks between the timbers. The brine was then collected and carried to the boiling vats where it was boiled until the water evaporated and left only the salt. The salt residue was then scraped from the vats and packaged for shipment.

Small-scale operations might be composed of a single firepit with single kettle for boiling the water to separate the salt out of the brine. Or the operations could be any size between rows of firepits with multiple kettles to a single kettle.

In either case, it was labor-intensive and hot, hard work. Most of the labor went into providing the wood for the fires.

Government Production

TBD

Slaves

TBD

Private Enterprises

Many private enterprises comprised the third part of the production of Salt in this area. These included full scale productions, such as the Rand enterprise with a large establishment intent on making a profit, down to single families that only stayed for a few weeks to gather enough salt for themselves for a year. We only have snapshots of who was there at any given time because the area was not regulated.

Rand Salt Works

See Rand Salt Works

Slaves

For the slaves that worked this production for Rand, see Slaves of Rand Salt Works^[1][2]

Legal Issues and Civilian Distribution

One of the early acts of the Alabama Legislature in 1861 was a law allowing the Governor to seize for public use all salt stored or held for high prices, and making it illegal to hide it. In Alabama, a distinction was made between Salt from Lessees and that made at the state salt works. “County Commissioners” was stamped on the bags for the lessees, while “Alabama” went on the bags from the state works. The lessees were required by law to turn over two-fifths of all salt to the state as rental for the land. This salt was then distributed to the counties.

Within the Counties, the salt was dispersed through the courts of county commissioners. In July 1862, as an emergency measure, salt was secured from a stock which the state purchased at high prices and sold for ten cents a pound at Selma. The first lessee shipment was made in Sept. 1862, the price set at $1.25 a bushel and raised to $2.25 by the end of the month. This first shipment was designed for Indigent families of volunteers.

The first statewide shipment occurred in Jan 1863 and the price was set at $2.50 per bushel of fifty pounds. No one was allowed to purchase more than twenty-five pounds per capita, for private use only, until all the people had been supplied with the initial allotment.^[3]

Research Notes

This is definitely a work in progress and will be added to as information is collected.

Sources

1. ↑ An Appraisement of all the Personal Estate of W. R. Rand late of the County of Dallas Dec'd. Exhibited to us undersigned appraisers by Sarah C. Rand administrator this the 17th day of November 1864, etc.; Clark County, Alabama Probate Court Records Appraisement & Inventory of the Estate of W.R. Rand, Alabama Probate Court (Clark County). Administrators, guardian bonds, accounts, inventories, executor's, and other records, supplemental inventory of Walter R. Rand. Used from the extract by Karim Aldridge Rand, and is copyrighted by Karim Aldridge Rand https://web.archive.org/web/20150913015806/ http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/dallas/court/wrrand.txt
2. ↑ "United States Civil War Confederate Papers of Citizens or Businesses, 1861-1865", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VW12-5W5 : 5 February 2021), Walter R Rand, 1861-1865.
3. ↑ Harris, Sherry, "1862 Alabama Salt Lists"; https://alabamagenealogy.org/autauga/1862-alabama-salt-list.htm#:~:text=A%20major%20blow%20to%20the%20Confederacy%20was%20the,from%201862%20through%20the%20end%20of%20the%20War.

Acknowledgements